To augment traditional monetization strategies, digital platform providers increasingly draw on gamblification (i.e., the use of gambling design elements). By means of gambling design elements (e.g., lottery tickets, scratch cards, loot boxes), platform providers do not only entertain users but also incentivize them to purchase digital products. Yet, despite the increasing prevalence of gamblified digital platforms, little is known about how gamblification influences user purchase behaviors. Drawing on prospect theory, we investigate gamblification in the form of loot box menu designs and the associated effects of uncertainty, loss experience and behavioral control on user purchase behavior. Specifically, we conducted a contest-based online experiment with 159 participants, finding that platform providers can profit from offering loot boxes with certain (vs. uncertain) rewards in loot box menus. Furthermore, this effect intensifies when participants previously experienced a loss and decreases when they perceive to have more control over the result. Thus, our findings provide theoretical and practical insights for a better understanding of gamblification in general and of loot box menu designs for enhancing digital business models in particular.
Customers in sales processes increasingly encounter automated sales agents that complement or replace human sales agents. Yet, little is known about whether, how, and why customers respond to automated agents in contrast to human agents across successive decision stages of the same sales process. Even less is known about customer responses to combinations where both agents assume distinct roles and focus on complementary tasks that are traditionally performed by only one single agent. Against this backdrop, this paper explores the influence of increasingly common sales representative types on customer decisions across sales stages. Our findings demonstrate that customer responses to automated (versus human) sales agents are not stable in sales processes and instead, shift as customers move across sales stages. What is more, the paper shows that combinations of sales agents versus single sales agents do matter, yet their differential effects depend on contextual features of the sales setting. These insights are important because vendors may assume that a certain type of sales agent is always more appreciated by customers, whereas in fact, different sales agent types bring distinct attributes to the table, and customers’ appreciation of these attributes shifts across sales stages.
To motivate visitors to engage with websites, e‐tailers widely employ monetary rewards (e.g., vouchers, discounts) in their website designs. With advances in user interface technologies, many e‐tailers have started to offer gamified monetary reward designs (MRDs), which require visitors to earn the monetary reward by playing a game, rather than simply claiming the reward. However, little is known about whether and why gamified MRDs engage visitors compared to their non‐gamified counterpart. Even less is known about the effectiveness of gamified MRDs when providing certain or chance‐based rewards, in that visitors do or do not know what reward they will gain for successfully performing in the game. Drawing on cognitive evaluation theory, we investigate gamified MRDs with certain or chance‐based rewards and contrast them to non‐gamified MRDs with certain rewards in user registration systems. Our results from a multi‐method approach encompassing the complementary features of a randomised field experiment (N = 651) and a randomised online experiment (N = 330) demonstrate differential effects of the three investigated MRDs on user registration. Visitors encountering either type of gamified MRD are more likely to register than those encountering a non‐gamified MRD. Moreover, gamified MRDs with chance‐based rewards have the highest likelihood of user registrations. We also show that MRDs have distinct indirect effects on user registration via anticipated experiences of competence and sensation. Overall, the paper offers theoretical insights and practical guidance on how and why gamified MRDs are effective for e‐tailers.
Game providers are increasingly employing and selling loot boxes, which can be considered virtual goods that consist of further virtual goods on a randomized basis. As such, game providers can foster profitability without impeding user experience. Drawing on prospect theory, we investigate ideas for the design of loot box menus to optimize revenue generation and user well-being. By conducting a contest-based online experiment with 159 participants, our analyses reveal that including certain (vs. uncertain) content in loot boxes can influence users' purchase behaviors and thus increase revenues. Moreover, this effect increases when participants previously experienced a loss. Thus, our findings demonstrate that game providers can profit from offering certain content in loot boxes.
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